This weeks #OTalk is on the topic of “Creative approaches to communicating research” and will be hosted by Lynne Goodacre (@lynnegoodacre).

Here is what Lynne had to say…

“So, tell me about your research”, is a question which many researchers dread being asked. Why? Because it is a real challenge to condense something like a doctoral study into a short accessible format. It is also a question which may be asked with a degree of trepidation due to the often lengthy and complicated answer which may follow.

Being able to ‘bottom line’ your research and communicate with excitement and passion to a non-specialist audience is an essential skill for researchers. This is highlighted by its identification as a core skill in the VITAE Researcher Development Framework.

To truly engage people with our work there is a need for researchers to think creatively about how we communicate their work with a level of clarity which makes it accessible to all. Being able to write academic articles and give excellent Power Point presentations are no longer the sole communication skills required by researchers. Blogging, videos, vlogging, podcasts, animation are now mainstream forms of communicating research.

As part of this years Royal College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference the Occupational Therapy Doctoral Network organised a 3 minute challenge which challenged researchers to communicate their research in 3 minutes in as creative a way as possible without the use of slides. It was a great event and illustrated how creative approaches can truly engage an audience.

Building on this event this months OTalk Research will explore the following questions:

Why is it important to develop a range of approaches to communicate research?

If you think across all areas of research and broadcast media who would you flag up currently as great communicators of research and why?

What is the most creative way you have either communicated your research or seen research communicated?

What are the challenge of communicating research to non-specialist audiences

Other than powerpoint and writing academic articles what do you think are great communication skills for researchers to develop?

What resources have you discovered or do you use to communicate research which may be of interest to others.